11.14.2006

Post election political geography

Forget "red" and "blue." The country is basically divided into four voting blocs: the Democratic Northeast, the Republican South, the populist Midwest and the libertarian West. Democrats probably have a decent grip on those populist Midwest voters for a while (at least until the area transforms completely into a new economy). As for the libertarian West (home of the first state -- Arizona -- to reject a gay marriage ban), this is a region that is more up for grabs than it should be. And it's because the Republican Party has grown more religious and more pro-government which turns off these "leave me alone," small-government libertarian Republicans.

The Republican Party started selling out its socially liberal voters beginning in 1980 when it abandoned the principles championed by Barry Goldwater. Until the GOP leadership is willing to stand up to the religious right, it risks becoming marginalized as a predominantly southern party.